The KirkSpock Love Story
by Entity Sylvir
Summary: Analysis of XI and TOS, my two cents on the canonicity of the K/S romance in relation to creator intentions as well as screen portrayal. Also doing a little comb-through of the Spock/Uhura issue, posing a few questions about its validity, and leaving some reassurances for ST:XI slash fans.
1. Chapter 1

Not a fic, I will admit. But it is an essay, an exploration of a fictional world and fandom and not the first of its kind on this site. I've already had several people point out to me that this is not a story, rather rudely too, so there's no need to say it again. If you wish you read a story then feel free to press the back button.

EDIT: As you can see this was written several years ago and before the sequel was released. The analysis of ST:XI was, therefore, done merely as extrapolation and just described my personal belief at the time of where things were going from the end. This first chapter is my original essay including ST:XI and TOS, and the second chapter is my amendment following Into Darkness.

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The 2009 movie has brought with it a new universe, a new timeline, and (sort of) new characters. However, it has also brought a new relationship which seems to rival K/S. Before I get into the K/S love story I will talk a little about Spock and Uhura.

At first glance, the kisses in the turbolift and transporter room, the look exchanged at the end of the movie, and Spock's_ "please tell Lieutenant Uhura that-"_ seem to indicate an ongoing serious romantic relationship between the two, but is that really the case?

Firstly, there is nothing indicating that Spock and Uhura are in a relationship besides a couple of moments and a statement which is actually cut off and never said. If you had just lost your planet and your mother and an attractive girl kissed you, would you not accept it whether you had feelings for her or not? The kiss scenes don't even prove that Uhura strong feelings for Spock, it's very possible she liked him and was open to the idea of a deeper relationship, and offering love at that time just seemed like the best thing to do. The statement that is cut off could have been anything, Spock was a lonely person and Uhura one of his only friends, in the event of his death would he not want to thank his friend for her companionship? It's true, it's likely he was going to say "I love her" but even so, it's not indicative of an established relationship. And it doesn't seem like a very good love confession, delivered so flatly from someone who has such massive struggles expressing emotion. Not to mention how entirely unaffected Spock it when Kirk cuts him off, letting it go straight away. It's also funny that he refers to Uhura as "Lieutenant Uhura," yet calls Kirk "Jim," which doesn't really mean anything but adds another layer of ambiguity. And the look at the end, well, what does that tell you? As far as Uhura knows Spock chose to stay in Starfleet for her (as opposed to the epic friendship with Kirk Spock Prime talked about, which is what he's really staying for) and Uhura is one of Spock's only friends, is friendship enough to explain it? Not to mention the look seems to indicate that Uhura didn't know Spock was staying in Starfleet, which seems like a pretty big piece of information to keep from your girlfriend.

And as well as a lack of proof that they are in a relationship, there is also considerable proof that they are not. There is a possibility that in the universe also Spock was bonded to T'Pring and engaged for most or all of the film and during the time period most Spock/Uhura fans believe their relationship began. True, there is no indication that this bonding carried over from the original universe, but I can't see how Nero would have influenced Sarek and Amanda's decision (of course it is likely that JJ Abrams just chose to ignore it, but let's remain in-verse for now). Not to mention Spock was completely torn up over realising that he was angry that a madman had destroyed his planet and murdered his mother, and was completely ready to leave Uhura behind and dedicate himself to New Vulcan before Spock Prime changed his mind (without a single mention of her too). So, if Spock and Uhura were in an established relationship, that would mean that Spock had accepted and acted on inappropriate feelings for a student, possibly while bonded to another, while sexually immature, and at the same time been unable to accept that he loved his mother, unable to accept that he cared that his planet and most of his species had been killed, and completely willing to leave the person who caused such strong illogic in him. And not only did he leave, her, all it took for him to be convinced to stay is someone known to lie to get his way who claims to be from another universe telling him that, in another reality, he had a friendship with Kirk. So it wasn't enough for his that he had a relationship with someone he supposedly loved enough to defy his (evidently very stong) Vulcan repression, risk ruining both their reputations, and possibly despite an arranged marriage (which given the death of so many Vulcans may now actually leave him to be with her). Yet he receives a promise which may or may not be true of a friendship that may or may not occur in this universe with a person he supposedly doesn't even like, and he comes running back to Starfleet. Is it just me or does that not seem quite right?

And in fact, the kisses between Spock and Uhura point more towards the non-established relationship. In the turbolift, Uhura asks Spock what he needs and he replies_ "I need everyone to continue performing admirably"_ in an attempt to mask how desperately he is fighting for control. Anyone that really knew Spock would go further and try to get him past his fear of revealing emotions and actually let go and let it out, and anyone who really cared about Spock would try harder to coax him into talking and getting past his trauma. Does Uhura do any of this? No, she says "okay" and lets him leave, proving that she doesn't really know him very well or that she knew but isn't close enough to him to stay and try to help him more. This is not say that Uhura doesn't care about Spock, she just does not know how to get him to let go, and as a result is uncomfortable with the situation. Note that if they were in a relationship, she would have had to get him to let go of his inhibitions in order to start a relationship with her, meaning if that if they were in a relationship she would have know how to help him and get him to let his emotions out and would not have just said "okay" and let him leave.

An argument I have heard against the above paragraph is that they were in the middle of war, which is why Uhura didn't press the topic. But then, why did Uhura bother in the first place? If it was not the time to talk over Spock's issues then why did she ask? Surely she wasn't expecting him a quick resolution to something like that. As I said, if they were in a relationship then Spock would have had to lower his Vulcan inhibitions to her in order to begin one, which is inconsistent to his clamming up to Uhura in the turbolift. And she didn't find it inconsistent that he clammed up to her, she just accepted it and let him leave, which implies that they have not yet begun a relationship. Did she think her kiss was enough to comfort him? Well it probably did a little, he responded and kissed her back, but since he clammed up like that he probably didn't find it comforting enough.

Now, the writers obviously set Kirk up deliberately as the one who reached Spock to lay the stones for the deep friendship to come. Kirk barely knew him at this point, and unsurprisingly didn't realise he was compromised (or that it was even possible for a Vulcan, it seems). After he found out, however, he immediately realised that he had to do something about it or endanger the ship (lucky Spock Prime was there to warn Kirk, since Uhura was really no help in this situation). Since he barely knew Spock, the fastest way, or possibly the only way, he could think of was to anger him. Not the best way to do it, but the only real option he had. Spock was then free to express him emotion, admiting them then talking them through with his father. It is obvious that what Spock needed in the turbolift that he didn't admit to Uhura was to be able to unleash his emotions then talk them through. And this was important exactly _because _they were in the middle of a war, where his judgement had the biggest consequences.

For Spock to be so open to a romantic relationship would be a rather drastic change in character, given how TOS Spock could only give his affection after being hit by spores (This Side of Paradise; Leila Kalomi) or being thrust back in time and having his brain revert to that of an ancient violent unrestrained Vulcan warrior (All Our Yesterdays; Zarabeth) or after almost eradicating himself of emotion only to meet a horrible, emotionless being and being forced to realise that emotions are not a bad thing after all (The Motion Picture; Kirk). This isn't a disproof, obviously that the writers couldn't have written that in anyway, though if this were the case then I wouldn't be very happy with the way Spock's character was dealt with.

Now, while I have given points as to why an established relationship is unlikely, I'd have to be pretty delusional to say that Spock and Uhura do not have some sort of a relationship now (though not a particularly lasting one, it seems, given the whole leave-you-and-go-to-New-Vulcan thing). Maybe Spock was going to say "Tell lieutenant Uhura I love her," after all, maybe he had been struggling with feelings for he and only admitted them after Kirk forced him to admit to his other emotions. There's obviously something on Uhura's part and Spock does care for her, even if it's not enough to keep him in Starfleet. The fact remains that Spock chose New Vulcan over Uhura, and Kirk over New Vulcan, meaning he effectively chose Kirk over Uhura. It seems to me that the two had something building, nothing concrete, and Spock's main motivation for staying was Kirk's friendship. But coming back to Starfleet (for whatever reason) may lead to Spock opening up to her more, at the same time as setting up his epic partnership with Kirk. But even so, it seems that he is growing closer to Kirk in the same way as he is to Uhura, even if convention states that romance is usually stronger than friendship.

Additionally, one of the reasons for S/U was that the creators wanted to counter the notion that the badass main character (Kirk) always gets the girl. They don't like the cliche? Fair enough? You know who's way ahead of them? Gene Roddenberry. If there's anyone who can name one episode or movie in which Kirk 'gets the girl', I will be very impressed. I've heard as well that the only reason the relationship was between 'Spock' and 'Uhura' specificall was because TOS had Kirk and Uhura kiss and they just decided to mix it up a little, not because they really believed those two characters should be together. Not sure how true that is, just thought I'd mention it. Though I have absolutely no idea why they say it's the first interspecies kiss, since when did Kirk and Gaila spontaneously disappear from the story? I think J.J also once said that Spock/Uhura only came to play because _"Spock was really, really going to need a hug, and Kirk wasn't going to like him yet"_ and that they always saw Kirk as the one that centred Spock and let him express his emotion. And while we're listing quotes, I think this is a good place to drop Damon Lindelof's: _""This first movie is just a love story between Spock and Kirk. It has all the beats of a romantic comedy where they meet, they don't get along, they totally hate each other, and then they get into a situation where they kind of need each other, and by the end Spock walks onto the bridge and he's like, 'Let's fuck!'"_ Just for some fun.

The creators have said that the Kirk/Spock friendship is very important to the story. Out-of-verse, this puts Kirk and Spock as the more important relationship with the romance as a side point. Currently, the Uhura thing is open enough to work around pretty easily. If it gets developed further, then Kirk and Spock would still probably be the most important people in each others' lives. Part of the conflict here I think may come from the technical difficulties in writing a Spock/Uhura subplot at the same time as developing the great inherent Kirk/Spock friendship of Star Trek. The out-of-verse explanation of all the points is, of course, mistakes and plot-holes. Interview make it clear how the creators intended the S/U relationship, though it seems they didn't do a very good job of developing it properly. You could say that however ther try to pair Spock, the characters aren't quite letting it happen.

So in conclusion, Spock and Uhura are not in a full, loving relationship, nor do they have very strong feelings for each other. Ultimately, the emotional focus of Star Trek is as it has been, on the relationship between Kirk and Spock.

Now, moving on, there are also some Spock/Uhura fans claiming that their pairing is actually TOS canon. Most of this is just a carry-on and the main reason for this seems to be because Gene Rodenberry once said that Spock and Uhura were originally meant to be together, but they decided that a black woman with a white lover was too much. I say, what does that mean? Gene Roddenberry at one point also thought to pair Spock with Chapel, but Chapel was not a well received characer so he chose instead to keep that love one sided. Basically, every TV show has hundreds of dismissed ideas, you can't go around saying they're all canon. If you believe Spock is with Uhura, you must also believe he is with Chapel at the same time. In fact, Uhura's name was originally Sulu but they thought that may sound racist and given the word 'Zulu' so that became the Japanese guy's name, so you must also believe that Uhura's name is Sulu. A more obvious example, in The Wrath of Khan the original idea was to kill Spock off permanently, but that was not well received so they changed their minds and brought him back. I highly doubt there is anyone who believes that Spock is really dead just because that was the original idea.

Additionally, fiction and TV are subjective, open to interpretation. If you look for something long enough you'll find it. That is how the so called 'glimpses of Spock/Uhura in TOS' were found. K/S hints however, are much more pronounced. And that's indisputable because the fact remains that hardly anybody picked up on S/U hints before the new movie, whereas god knows how many people picked up on the K/S ones. If they producers were trying to promote Spock and Uhura without angering racists and somehow ended up accidentally promoting Spock and Kirk, why did they not correct themselves? By the time The Final Frontier was out racism had died down enough for Uhura to have a white boyfriend, and they could easily have done what they couldn't do in the sixties and placed Spock and Uhura together, but they didn't. Instead they had much subtext about Kirk and Spock and actually placed Uhura in a relationship with Scotty (whom I believe she is more compatible with, understands better, and is more comfortable around-I quite like that pairing myself). This seems pretty definite evidence that the notion of Spock and Uhura was dismissed early on and replaced with Kirk/Spock and Uhura/Scotty.

I understand that there are some flirty scenes between Spock and Uhura, like in The Man Trap, yet Spock dismisses Uhura's advances and she gives up pretty easily, and we've seen Spock interested (Droxine, The Cloud Minders) so you can't argue he was interested by didn't show it. Just because they sort of flirted a little doesn't mean they're in love, all it tells us is that Uhura probably thinks Spock attractive but doesn't really feel enough for him to keep trying for his attention after being shot down once. Plus, the next thing she says is _"Captain Kirk is the closest thing you have to a friend"_ which indicates that she and Spock are not very close.

Really, the ideas behind a Spock and Uhura romance are quite weak. I mean, they were close, yes. They were good friends, yes. Getting asked about Spock and Uhura, Nichelle Nichols said _"I created a relationship between Uhura and Spock as being her mentor and the person she looked up to. Uhura was the only one who could play the Vulcan lyre and the only one who had the audacity to sing a song teasing Spock."_ So, Spock was Uhura's mentor. Yeah, sure, great. Uhura was the only one who could play the Vulcan Lyre, yeah, whatever. She sang a song teasing Spock, okay. Now, Uhura has nothing on McCoy in regards to teasing Spock. And Kirk, for that matter. It's indicative of closeness, obviously. It's not like Spock being close to someone is a big deal, he does have friends. And Uhura is one of them. Nichelle Nichols also said _"Uhura related to Spock. When she saw the captain lost in space out there in her mirror, it was Spock who consoled her when she went screaming out of her room. When Spock needed an expert to help save the ship, you remember that Uhura put something together."_ What Nichelle Nichols was saying was that Spock and Uhura did understand each other and had potential for a deeper relationship. I'm not denying that, but hey there's also _potential_ that Spock went and hooked up with Droxine again after retirement, or went back to Leila Kalomi. No, Spock/Uhura is a deep destructive warping of canon or anything, but it is another interpretation added over canon and not some kind of realisation of what was always there.

In TOS Spock and Uhura started out from a respectful acquaintance, which turned into a close, affectionate friendship, but not more (because you can argue against K/S all you want, but that doesn't change that Uhura's still in complete canon with Scotty). I have no problem with shipping non-canon pairings and no problem with Spock/Uhura, I do not mean this to be disrespectful but simply a statement of fact. It's not bad or good, it's just non-canon. I would be biggest hypocrite in the world to say something is bad because it isn't canon, given the nature of fanfiction.

Now, onto K/S.

There are many people who do a great job of point out scenes in the episodes and movies that indicate how close Kirk and Spock are, and I'll leave that to them. Myself, I will go straight to the source, Gene Roddenberry. And specifically his replies in these interviews:

_Interviewer: "I know you've told us you designed that relationship as 'Two halves which come together to make a whole'. Is that how you still see it?"_

_Roddenberry: "Oh yes. As I've said, I definitely designed it as a love relationship. I think that's what we're all about-love, the effort to reach out to each other. I think that's a lovely thing. Also, dramatically, I designed Kirk and Spock to complete each other-and in fact, the Kirk, Spock McCoy triad to be the dramatic embodiment of the parts of one person: logic, emotion, and the balance between them. You cannot have an internal monolog on the screen, so that is a way of personifying it, getting it out where it can be seen-that internal debate which we all have within. AND I designed Kirk and Spock, as I told you, as dream images of myself, the two halves. But in terms of the characters, yes. That closeness... absolutely."_

And another one:

_Interviewer: "There's a great deal of writing in the Star Trek movement which compares the relationship between Alexander and Hephaistion to the relationship between Kirk and Spock-focusing on the closeness of the friendship, the feeling that they would die for one another..."_

_Roddenverry: "Yes, there's certainly some of that-certainly with love overtones. Deep love. The only difference being, the Greek ideal-we never suggested in the series-physical love between the two. But it's the-we certainly had the feeling that the affection was sufficient for that, if that were the particular style of the 23rd century."_

Alexander and Hephaistion refers to Alexander the Great and his general, boyhood companion, and lover, Hephaistion. They were extremely close through their whole life and upon Hephaistion's untimely death Alexander mourned greatly, organised a hugely expensive funeral, and joined his lover only months later. The Greek ideal was the beliefs that the ancient Greeks held that the ideal love was between two men, and in fact if a man loved women too much he was considered feminine (that's right, straight guys were feminine). And the best relationships were between warriors, two men who loved each other, fought for each other and would die for each other. Gene Roddenberry says that _"we never suggested in the series physical love between the two,"_ a simple statement of fact. No one's trying to claim there was actually an episode or movie with a sex scene between Kirk and Spock. But, _"we certainly had the feeling that the affection was sufficient for that,"_ pretty much confirming what the slash fans think. Now, if you were to consider two men who loved each other in the time of, say, Ancient Greece, then it would be likely that they had a physical relationship. However, if they were in a homophobic society like say, Victorian English, they likely would have just remained close friends. And so, if these two men were in _"the particular style of the 23rd century"_ then it would probably just depend on whether they wanted to sleep together or not and, well,_ "the affection was sufficient for that."_ In this interview, Gene Roddenberry first states a fact-that Kirk and Spock's relationship was left open to interpretation and never specified-then states that the slash interpretation is perfectly valid and also very possible. It may not have been intended in the sense that he may not have thought up the characters going, "yep, those two are gonna scew," but the degree of love was most definitely intended and deliberately taken to a point where it very well may have been romantic, but was left open to interpretation either for fear or homophobia or because he decided that as long as they love each like that, whether or not they're having sex just isn't important (I quite like this idea).

As with ST:XI, I take a death-of-the-author approach with TOS too (and indeed also with just about everything), it just so happens in this case I agree with the author. Or that no one ever denied it either. Others who disagree and don't see any romantic/sexual potential between Kirk and Spock (or disagree with my previous points and agree with the ST:XI creators) are perfectly valid too-they have their reasons and here I'm just listing mine. That the creators actually endorse my view too is a very nice bonus (if they didn't I'd probably ship them anyway, with popular pairings like Harry/Draco and Batman/Joker, it's not like not being intended has ever troubled shippers).

One of the major arguments against slash of this kind is that "yes, they love each other, to the exclusion of others, monogamously, but they're only friends and there's nothing sexual about it." Now, this is very valid for many other fandoms which involve epic friendships between men. It is quite valid for Star Trek as well, with no specified physicality as Gene Roddenberry said, but there is one significant piece of evidence for a non-platonic K/S relationship: pon farr. For most fandoms you could play the "love but not sexual" card, but it's a little difficult in a fandom in which one of the characters must have sex or die every 7 years and only has one serious personal relationship for many years. Make of that what you may.

Possibly one of the most used words in K/S ever, as we probably all know, originates from The Motion Picture. In The Motion Picture novelisation, Spock calls Kirk 't'hy'la' which is accompanied by:

_*Editor's note - The human concept of friend is most nearly duplicated in Vulcan thought by the term "t'hy'la", which can also mean "brother" and "lover". Spock's recollection (from which this chapter is drawn) is that it was a most difficult moment for him since he did indeed consider Kirk to have become his brother. However, because "t'hy'la" can be used to mean "lover" and since Kirk's and Spock's friendshias unusually close, this has led to some speculation over whether or not they had actually indeed become lovers. At our request, Admiral Kirk supplied the following comments on this subject:_

_"I was never aware of this 'lovers' rumor, although I have been told that Spock encountered it several times. Apparently, he had always dismissed it with his characteristic lifting of his right eyebrow, which usually connoted some combination of surprise, disbelief, and/or annoyance. As for myself... I have always found my best gratification in that creature called woman. Also, I would not like to be thought of as being so foolish that I would select a love partner who came into sexual heat only once every seven years."_

Some people take this footnote as direct disproof, while others point out that never if the fact that Kirk and Spock are lovers actually denied. But my point is, why is there doubt? If Gene Rodenberry was trying to deny that they were lovers, why not just say "They are not lovers. Period."? Why give a rambling footnote that sort of gives the impression of denying it without really denying it? Since the K/S fandom was established at the time, it's possible he could have been denying the K/S relationship while keeping the slashers happy, but I do not believe that is the case. Firstly, since when has anone ever tried to keep slash fans happy if they didn't agree? I'm pointing to the reactions of producers of shows such as Sherlock and Merlin writers who acknowledge the deep feelings but rather vehemently deny sexual involvement. At any rate, if he was trying to deny the relationship without losing slash fans, he could have simply defined t'hy'la as "friends and brothers", effectively denying the romance while leaving the slash fans going, "well, it's still possible they were more as well." He did not do this, however, he wrote something that introduced the lovers possibility and sort of but not really denied it, and as a result somewhat confirmed it. Some have pointed out that the line about _"best gratification"_ indicates that Kirk must have had experience with people who were not women, indicating his bisexuality, thought whether or not the bisexuality part is intention the ambiguous wording rather definitely is. Despite the lack of definition, admittedly it reads very much like a denial with Spock's reaction of "_surprise, disbelief, and/or annoyance" _and Kirk's comment about not being thought of as so foolish. A hopeful view may see it as a confirmation without raising homophobia. I'd like to think that he deliberately made is ambiguous, not to confirm or deny, but just to keep it open to interpretation. And maybe with a bit of a heads-up to slashers that he supported their interpretation as much as the purely friendship one. I must say the pon farr reference perplexes me, for while Vulcans do indeed only go into _heat_ every seven years, I really don't think they're incapable of sex between that time. Spock has shown evidence of sexual desire (Leila Kalomi, Zarabeth) even if he didn't follow through (given that he was in the middle of a field and in front of McCoy-I personally believe he slept with Leila but that's just me and there's no real proof either way), and I would very much feel sorry for Amanda if it really were the case. It seems to support the 'deliberate ambiguity' theory.

In 1991 Gene Roddenberry stated in an interview: _"My attitude toward homosexuality has changed. I came to the conclusion that I was wrong. I was never someone who hunted down 'fags' as we used to call them on the street. I would, sometimes, say something anti-homosexual off the top of my head because it was thought, in those days, to be funny. I never really deeply believed those comments, but I gave the impression of being thoughtless in these areas. I have, over many years, changed my attitude about gay men and women." _Some people take this to mean that since he said this many years after TOS, he could not have created a homosexual relationship between two TOS characters. I don't quite believe that, however. Firstly he never have a timeframe for when his attitudes changes, he never said he only recently changed his attitudes, they may have changed decades ago but no one happened to ask him until how. Plus he actually says that he was _not_ homophobic despite what he may have appeared to be, not the other way around. And whatever he said then, he still did describe Kirk and Spock's relationship as "love" and promoted the possibility of a physical relationship between them. It doesn't seem likely that a homophobe would do that, if Gene Roddenberry had been a homophobe he more likely would have been flat out denying anything more than friendship between two characters he created, so it is likely that he was not actively homophobic during TOS._  
_

An argument I have heard several times against K/S is that "Kirk has so many women he couldn't possibly be with a guy like Spock," which I actually find rather stupid. Women? Kirk never had a single woman who lasted more than an episode, and there were very few women he genuinely cared for (as opposed to just flirting with for fun or other purposes, such as Marlena or Miri). The closest woman to him would probably be Carol Marcus (well technically Miranamee or Lori Ciana were closer since he actually married them, but both relationships occurred during an absence of Spock and both actually ended up dying just as Spock re-entered Kirk's life). She is a woman that Kirk was in a relationship with, whom he had a son with, only to decide that his career was more important and to leave her in lieu of that. And what is Kirk doing when she re-enters her life? Giving up his career for Spock, that's what. Goes to show just how much he valued women over Spock, huh?

One more thing, Vulcans kiss with their fingers, which means that every time Kirk and Spock hold hands (Turnabout Intruder, TMP, etc.), they are kissing. Kirk also seems to be the only person Spock touches hands with not out of necessity (so that doesn't include pulling someone up if they're falling off a cliff or things like that). Some people say that the notion that Spock is kissing eveything he touches with his hands is so ludicrous it must not be true, but how does that change the fact that he and Kirk are reguarly kissing? Yeah, the idea that Spock is kissing everything he touches is pretty funny, but whoever said that was the case? Humans kiss by touching lips, it doesn't mean that every time you bite a sandwich you're kissing the sandwich, or that every time you wipe your mouth you're making out with your hand. Or a more relatable example, humans greet each other by shaking hands, it doesn't mean that when you shake a maraca or a salt shaker that you are greeting it. And why is that? Because the greeting is _two humans_ shaking _their _hands_ together,_ not one human shaking anything with their hand. Likewise, a Vulcan kiss is a Vulcan touching someone else's fingers with their fingers, not a Vulcan touching anything with their fingers. So Vulcans kissing with their fingers is not a ludicrous notion, and every time Spock and Kirk touch hands they are kissing.

And just a few little tidbits, in a blooper during the filming of Turnabout Intruder William Shatner forgot his lines and ended up saying _"Spock, it's always been you, you know it's always been you. Say you love me too," _and when asked who his favourite Kirk conquest was during an interveiw he replied "_Spock, actually."_ Sure, it was just a joke, but it seems a bit of a coincidence that this joke just happened to be around with a couple that just happened to be the first publicised slash couple. Shatner seem to have recognised the subtext at least to some degree seemed pretty good with it (compare to say, the meltdown in the Blake's 7 fandom in the 1980s when the actors found out about slash and were so horrified they tried to ban it). Another tidbit, Theodore Sturgeon, a well known sci-fi writer who wrote the teleplays for Amok Time and Shore Leave, was known for homoerotic themes in his works. Plus, Kirk said to Edith Keeler that "let me help" means more to him than "I love you," and in Operation Annihilate, the very next episode, Spock says to him, _"I have my own will, Captain. Let me help."_

If you're still in doubt, take a page out of Brittany Diamond's book and imagine every slashy K/S with a woman in Kirk's place. Now is there any doubt that Spock and this woman love each other? A lot of anti-K/S comes from, if not always active homophobia, a general and not unusual stereotypical idea of homosexual men. If it was, say, Chapel holding Spock's hand while he talked about "this simple feeling" it would have remarkably unsubtle, wouldn't it?

If somehow, all of this has passed over your head, consider something. K/S was the first slash pairing, in the modern day some established slash fans will go into a new fandom and jump at anything to ship two characters together, but that can't have been the case with K/S. Around the world, thousands of unbiased Star Trek viewers all saw the K/S love story and despite being in a primarily homophobic society created a slash fandom which lasted over four decades. So even if all those flirty scenes weren't originally intended, they still exist and the production team have clearly done nothing but encourage it (and in Gene Roddenberry case, come to embrace it).

In conclusion, the K/S love story is real and of an unspecified yet very possibly non-platonic physical nature. It is intended by the creators of TOS and honoured by the creators of ST:XI. Kirk and Spock _"complete each other,"_ are _"two halves which come together to make a whole"_ and the One True Pairing of Star Trek.

* * *

Spock/Uhura fans, please do not be angry at me. You have your reasons for shipping your pairing and I have mine for shipping mine. I am not trying to insult or discourage any of you, this is an essay written by a K/S fan for other K/S fans and just my personal interpretation of what I see.

Please don't flame me with insults or assertions without evidence, that's certainly not going to convince me to agree with you. But if anyone has an argument or rebuttal against one of my points, feel free to (politely) talk to me about it!


	2. Chapter 2

So, ah now. Then was released the sequel. Despite my personal belief that the Spock/Uhura relationship as it was in ST:XI was poorly developed and likely to fail, this unfortunately doesn't stop the scripwriters from pushing on anywyay. But far from discouraging me, it was so barely there that I felt the K/S more than ever.

The scene before Spock goes down I did actually find pretty cute, I'll admit. But with that token, that's sort of how Spock's two relationships were set up. He has Uhura for a few light comments here and there and a brief argument which is dropped pretty quickly, but it's very obviously Kirk who's set up as his main emotional relationship of the movie.

Just like last time, it's Kirk who makes him lose control of his emotions. The reversal of the famous Wrath of Khan death scene was lovely and Spock's grief was so very apparent. The way he lashed out in anger as well is reminiscent and another reversal of his response to Kirk's provocation in the previous movie, quite cleanly showing how much Kirk means to him. This display of emotion also, on the positive side, reminded me of the Amok Time smile.

I don't have a huge amount to say about his movie. I don't dislike the Spock/Uhura pairing this time round, I still think it's not entirely necessary but it did add a few cute scenes and didn't get in the way. Their disagreement over Spock's attempted sacrifice also didn't fall into the bonds of pointless romantic entanglement and instead revealed something new about Spock's character which I thought was quite well done. Their relationship in this movie made rather a bit more sense and didn't have any inconsistencies or plotholes like the previous movie so I don't really have anything to analyse or discredit (though, mostly, that was because said relationship was barely even mentioned at all). They weren't too complicated or trying to delve too intensely, seemed to connect better with each other also, and for the first time I could actually see a potential and feel something for them (at least if I ignore their poor previous setup).

I don't feel that K/S has to war with S/U anymore. I mean obviously you'd have to do a toss up when it came to pairing fanfiction, but in my mind in relation to canon I'm able to see them side by side. And side by side it becomes very apparent to me how much deeper the K/S relationship runs, how the brief S/U emotional moment cannot compare at all to the main K/S plot, and just how much _more _K/S is and can be. They've connected through death. Spock has lowered his shields between them. They had their fair share of lighthearted banter too. We can see the beginning of the epic partnership that Spock Prime mentioned. My prediction from my original essay did, after all, come true. Kirk and Spock are the most important relationship of the movie, and the most important people in each other's lives. Uhura was no more than a subplot to the great inherent Kirk/Spock of Star Trek

T'hy'la, after all, can never be forgotten.


End file.
